Teachers at a B.C.-certified school in northern China have written to Education Minister Don McRae with accusations that the school is inflating marks so its fee-paying Chinese students can graduate with a B.C. certificate and qualify for North American universities.

Several teachers allege that officials with the Tianjin Maple Leaf international school have also violated work contracts, harassed them and created an unsafe environment. They have appealed to McRae, his ministry and Chinese officials for help, but said there was no immediate response from B.C.

“Laws are being broken, I’m being forced to give inaccurate grades and several teachers, including myself, are experiencing dangerous circumstances on and around the campus,” teacher Shannon Davis said in an email this month to Kerry Pridmore, B.C.’s international education director.

In her response, Pridmore noted the ministry reviews complaints about the B.C. Offshore Program Agreement, but she did not say whether it will investigate Tianjin school. Ministry spokesman Scott Sutherland also refused to indicate whether the teachers’ complaints are being investigated, and McRae did not respond to a request for an interview.

The school’s B.C. agent, George Watson, did not answer directly when asked about the allegations of grade inflation but noted that the school uses the letter grade I for “learning is incomplete” on report cards rather than giving a failing grade, in keeping with B.C. regulations. He also noted in an email to The Vancouver Sun that students must pass an entrance exam before being admitted to the B.C. program.

It’s not the first time the ministry has heard reports that grades are being inflated at some of its 34 offshore schools, most of which are in China. In 2007, then education minister Shirley Bond said the ministry was monitoring three schools — Dalian Maple Leaf International, Grand Canadian Academy and Sino Canada high school — to ensure students meet provincial standards, especially in English 12, before they receive the B.C. high school graduation certificate known as the Dogwood.

“The credibility of the Dogwood is vital. When someone sees the B.C. Dogwood, they (should) know that a certain set of standards has been met,” she said at the time. “Certainly there have been challenges identified, both here and offshore.”

That latter comment referred to concerns at University Hill secondary that struggling students were boosting their English 12 marks by taking the same course after-hours at a nearby private school. The Vancouver teacher who raised a red flag in 2007, Peter Hill, said the problem persists today. This week, four of his Grade 12 students who were getting low grades dropped his class to take English 12 through an online school.

“It’s clear why they want to do this ... it’s because they can get a better mark online,” Hill said. “We’ve almost come to the point where we accept this kind of mark-shopping as educational.”

Tianjin teachers, including one from B.C., told McRae in an email this month that they have been asked to “fake grades to push the kids through the B.C. program in order for them to graduate and be accepted into North American universities.” And U.S.-trained Davis, in her email to Pridmore, said: “My grades are meaningless since they change as soon as they go into the system.”

The teachers have also registered complaints about living and working conditions, with some saying the contracts they signed after accepting offers of employment in Tianjin have not been respected. On Thursday, Davis said the situation at the school had worsened as a result of The Sun’s inquiries, with increased confrontations between administrators and staff.

The school’s principal, Ryan Waurynchuk, told a staff meeting this week that he has restricted Davis’s movement on the school’s sprawling campus. He also denied any grade inflation and blasted teachers for complaining to the ministry and The Sun rather than discussing their concerns with him. An audio recording of the 90-minute meeting was sent Thursday to The Sun.

“This type of stuff is going to stop right here,” he said in the recording. “It had better stop right now. People who are not happy here had better make a decision to leave or to say ‘I’m going to work positively with this community’ because I’ve had enough of it. If you’re out there trying to break down this school ... and I hear about it — well, I’m not going to make any threats, but it’s highly unprofessional.”

In his email, Watson acknowledged that one complaint is correct: The school has mould. It’s an ongoing problem in Chinese cities with high humidity, he said, and surfaces are routinely scraped and cleaned and periodically repainted.

He wouldn’t comment on working and living conditions, saying such issues are confidential, but he noted that the company hires almost 100 B.C. certified teachers and about 40 English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers each year.

“Most adapt well to their new living and working situations and every year a few do not,” said Watson, who was superintendent in Rocky Mountain school district before moving to China.

Maple Leaf Educational Systems owns and operates about two dozen schools in China, with seven certified by the B.C. government to provide a B.C. education. Jim Williams, an Abbotsford teacher who spent two years at a Maple Leaf school in Dalian and wrote a novel based on his experiences, said he wasn’t surprised to hear that some of the stories from Davis and her colleagues are similar to passages in his book.

Titled C.H.I.P.S. in China, his book is about a fictional school called Canadian Harmonious International Peace School. But Williams admitted it’s based on experiences at Dalian and said one of the main messages in his book — that education takes a back seat to business — is certainly true for those in the company’s upper echelons.

Although he respects the concept behind the spread of B.C. offshore schools during the past decade, Williams agreed that some teachers, especially young ones, feel pressured to pass students so they can gain admission to western universities.

The superintendent from Central Okanagan, Hugh Gloster, has been contracted by the Education Ministry to travel to Tianjin next month to conduct a regular inspection of the school. Sutherland said those who will be involved in that inspection are aware of the teachers’ concerns about education quality. But they will not review complaints related to contracts signed with the Maple Leaf firm because the ministry does not regulate employee-employer relationships in independent schools, he added.

Although government officials offered little information in response to the Sun’s queries, a post Thursday on Twitter by an organization that works closely with the ministry on international education indicates that tougher rules for B.C.’s offshore schools are in the works. Pridmore told the B.C. Council for International Education that the ministry plans to introduce rigorous program eligibility and certification criteria along with new rules to ensure quality and a clear process for school decertification.

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Teachers allege grade inflation, contract violations at a B.C.-certified school in China

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